November 23, 2015

Creepmas is Coming!!


December 1 is right around the corner....that means CREEPMAS!!!


It's pretty cool that this year you have the option of using the topics provided.  My offerings aren't going to be a spooky & creepy as most - I'm going to use Rudy!  He crossed over to the jolly side when he heard they had cookies, and he's quite the goofball!

And Maple Grove Cemetery is now on Instagram!  I was using my personal one, but my everyday people probably don't want to see H'ween / cemetery stuff year round and my H'ween peoples probably don't want to see cat, dog & dance pictures.  @MapleGroveCem
I'll have the link over on the sidebar added shortly. 

#MGC
#Creepmas2015

November 09, 2015

It's almost gone.....

I spent off and on all weekend packing up (and not getting rid of as much as I'd hoped) all the indoor decor.  I pulled all the totes out of the garage and shuffled a few things around, so all the candleholders are in one tote, candy dishes in another, etc.  Then I took the totes into the house one at a time and filled them all up - then labelled each tote with the contents. I even had to go buy 2 more!  I sure didn't think I bought that much new this year and it sure didn't seem like that much was actually IN the house, especially since I didn't bring out the apothecary!
But I can honestly say that not all of them are 100% full.  But close.
Looks like 10 - 18 gallon totes
2 - 35ish gal totes and
3 - 9 gal totes.

I forgot about my little ghostie blowmold!
I have the cloth items in this tote.  Should protect them from mice better than the coffin did.
 Lights & extension cords.
 Another angle of the skeleton corner.  Looks like a really crowded elevator!
It sucks that I have unique stuff that I like, but haven't set out for the last couple years.  It makes it tough to get rid of it!  And as much as I do like it - the family doesn't want H'ween stuff out all year.  I can barely get away with the gargoyle on top of the grandfather clock and 1 random skeleton (see Rudy below).

It's a good thing the weather was decent, if chilly, since they sat on the patio all weekend. I shifted the Christmas totes out when I got home from work tonight and put the H'ween ones in so the others are handy when I need them.  It'll be a lot colder Thanksgiving weekend and I sure don't want to be out in the garage moving stuff around with frozen hands!!  

Random photos off my phone. 
Because why not?
 Saw this at Target.  At least it's not the pumpkin spice scented kind!
Chester, Daisy, Maddie.
Maddie wasn't thrilled when she found out it was Daisy up against her butt.  She still hasn't warmed up to the newcomer much yet.   
 At CVS - what doesn't belong?  
If this pirate guy went with my display at all, I would have gotten him.  I really liked all CVS's full sized props this year.  But as of Saturday, they were still only 50% off.   I scored another Beagle Bonez, I just couldn't pass him up!
This is Rudy.  He's crossed to the Jolly Side (they have Christmas cookies!) but I think it was to avoid being tossed in a tote and put in the garage. 
 Chester likes to lounge on pillows.  He was stupervising me packing up the village in the living room. 

I scheduled a donation pick up for Thursday, so hopefully once I get rid of some more stuff, I can get this place cleaned up and feel a whole lot less stress!  That couch full of laundry to fold is the bane of my existence.  Ugh.  

#MGC

November 02, 2015

Man, I am beat!

I honestly don't know how some people can tear down their Halloween display the same night!  Both Randy and I feel like we've been run over by a truck!  But the entire cemetery is tore down and 95% put away.  I so appreciate his help because there's no way I could have done all that on my own in just 1 day.
 
The big day was a bit of a buzzkill.  We did a whole lot of nothing during the day. A nap may have happened.  Then around 3... here came the rain.  I guess I should be happy that's all it was.  Last year it showed up with wind and snow, too!  I probably got about 35 kids.  It seemed like a couple more houses had lights on, too.  Nobody had any really good costumes this year, other than 2 adorable tiny little girls dressed as kittens.  3 women came up, possibly in their 20s - its hard to tell - but they were in costume and having a good time!  3 teenaged boys showed up with only 1 in a 'costume', but they were in awe of the cemetery and gushed over it.  OK, kissing ass will get you candy!  One little boy's dad went crazy over the campfire scene and another lady asked if she could take a picture.  2 cars pulled up with year with a bunch of kids pouring out.  Then it was over. 

My sister came over after passing out candy at Mom's to see the cemetery all lit up.  As we stood there chatting (under our umbrellas), our dogs roamed around between the front and back yards.  All of a sudden, we both sniffed.  Uh, oh.  Skunk.  My Beagle apparently really likes the smell of skunk, since it's only been about a week since the last time he got blasted in the face!  Luckily her dog with his really thick fur (and a 45 minute drive) were spared for the most part.  Not really how I wanted to end my evening!  At least the Skunk-Off and puppy shampoo were still handy. 
 I confess to doing absolutely NOTHING on Sunday, even tho it was gloriously sunny and in the low 60s.  I'd thought about cleaning up my flowerbeds and picking up the multitude of sticks that are scattered about.  It clearly didn't happen. 

I didn't go out of my way to hit any clearance sales, but we did get some (in my opinion) unnecessary candy since I gave out all of what we'd bought.  My diet is shot by having all this stuff in the house!  I've learned Almond Snickers are my downfall.  And KitKats.  And Butterfingers.  Shall I go on?   And I looked around at WalMart today when we went to get exciting stuff like kitty litter.  I got a butterfly mask, a cute little tinsel headstone and some pumpkin scoopers, then another green LED spotlight from the Christmas section. 

It took us about an hour and a half to clear the front yard.  This just meant everything except for the sign & headstones were inside the fence. 
Randy said it looked like these guys were in line for their unemployment checks. 
 Gulp.  Do I really have that many skeletons???  
 We had a couple laughs about all them.  I posted this pic on FB saying the seasonal workers were waiting to get their pay before leaving until next year.  He thought I should have said before they were deported back to Transylvania.  
 Yay, everyone loves Tim Horton's! 
 The grass got yellowed, but didn't die under the coffin this year!  I have it on casters for easy moving around and they also help to raise it up off the grass. 
 This is where they all go in the off season. I hang them using a piece of twine looped around their tailbones, a half-hitch around the spine just under the ribs and another around the neck - it helps to distribute the weight more evenly and they're not hanging by the string out of the top of their heads only, causing a lot of stress on the neck.  The 3 foot guys I paired up back-to-back and tied the twine thru their pelvises and then looped around under their ribs and around their necks. 
 The critters are in the tiny little loft in the shed with the lawn mower & headstones.  I forgot to put out my groundbreaker coffin this year!  I saw it when I was putting this stuff away in the shed.  Dammit. 
 Since I had plenty of time to spare while waiting on the ToTers, I jotted down a few ideas for next year.  Since it probably won't ever be nice enough for me to use old dance costumes (Miss Angela probably won't ever wear them again but I don't want them messed up) I'll get some dresses and suits from the Salvation Army and do a masquerade ball type thing next year, instead of having the skeletons just standing there.  And I've finally gotten the OK to board up the windows!  That will look pretty awesome. Once I was able to show Randy an example of how it could be done (thanks to a house on Tillson St!) he was good with it.  Of course I'll need some tunes for the ball.  I'm going to add a couple more stones to the cemetery and touch up the paint on the current ones.   That's a pretty good start.  

Shucks, I have to find clothes and stuff since I have to go to work tomorrow - blargh.  5:30am rolls around pretty early!  I'll sign off with this picture of Chester & Daisy sharing my lap.  Daisy has no concept of "he was there first" or "one cat fits better at a time". I'm glad he's such a good big brother! 

#MGC